Significant growth in environmental resource use is related to the increased use of motor vehicles for passenger and goods transportation since World War II. For the countries of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Schipper (1997) reported that the number of vehicle-kilometers per capita has been steadily rising from 1970 onward in Western countries. Carbon emissions correspondingly rose over the same period, with the per capita figure for the United States remaining stable but notably higher than relevant figures for other OECD countries